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Investigation of thoracic spine kinematics in adult sports participants with chronic groin pain during a single leg drop landing task

Morris, Tracy Louise (2014-04)

Thesis (MScPhysio)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.

Thesis

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Chronic groin pain is widespread across many sporting disciplines. The aim of our
research was to determine if there are kinematic differences of the thoracic spine in
active sports people with chronic groin pain, compared with healthy controls. A
cross-sectional descriptive design was followed. Participants were required to
complete six single leg drop landings with each leg from a 20cm height.
The study was done in the 3D Movement Analysis Laboratory at the University of
Stellenbosch. Ten male participants with unilateral or bilateral chronic groin pain of
more than 3 months duration and 10 asymptomatic males, matched for age and
sports participation, were recruited.
The main outcome measures were: thoracic spine angle at initial foot contact,
maximum thoracic spine angle, range of movement (ROM) (difference between the
minimum and maximum values) and thoracic spine angle at lowest vertical point of
the pelvis. This was assessed in all 3 movement planes: the sagittal plane (X plane),
the coronal plane (Y plane) and the transverse plane (Z plane). The results of our study showed that for the unilaterally affected groin pain group, the
cases landed in significantly more thoracic flexion (P<0.001 with large effect size)
and were in significantly more thoracic flexion still at the lowest point. Peak thoracic
flexion was significantly more in the cases than the controls. (P<0.001 with medium
effect size) The same was true for the bilaterally affected group when landing on the
most painful side, although this was not statistically significant. There were no
significant differences in the frontal or transverse planes. In the bilaterally painful
group, axial rotation ROM was significantly reduced when landing on either leg
(worst affected side: P=0.040 with medium effect size and least affected side: p=0.006 with large effect size). The same occurred in the unilaterally affected group,
although this was not statistically significant.
Our study suggests that, in participants with chronic groin pain, there is greater
thoracic forward flexion away from neutral during landing and that total axial rotation
ROM during landing is diminished.